Friday, May 27, 2016

Episode 115 - Knit 1, teach 1

It's that time of year again. What time of year is that you ask? It is when the folks at Pantone release their fall colors list. These are the colors that influence fashion, what will be appearing in the stores this summer for fall wear, and what colors we'll see on the new yarns coming to the local yarn stores. Most knitters love color! And yes, I am including knitters such as myself who happen to love the greys! (Check out that Sharkskin color chip on the palette and how well is goes with every other color. What's not to love about a beautiful grey?) So take a look at the palette, check if you have any of those colors represented in your stash and play along! We'd love to have you join in. #yarniacscolors2016

We also have a short discussion about the importance of bringing new knitters and crafters into our community. As the number of small vendors increase (we see new bag makers and dyers all the time), one of the things you can do to support small business is to bring in new consumers. Teach, enable, and bring someone new into the community. #knit1teach1


What are we wearing?
Starshower by Hillary Smith Callis
Sharlene's Starshower
Easy Folded Poncho by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas
Gayle's Easy Folded

What are we stalking?
Antarktis by Janina Kallio
Drachenfels by Melanie Berg
Light Gale by Alicia Plummer
Bespoke Sweaters by Veera Valimaki
Pavement by Veera Valimaki
Minimum by Veera Valimaki

What are we knitting?
Sharlene's test knit for Elizabeth Doherty
Knit Picks Lindy Chain
Hoodie Shawl Cardigan by Susanne Sommer
Lilly Pilli by Ambah O'Brien

What have we finished?
Therapy by Laura Aylor
Sharlene's Therapy
Gayle's socks

Teach a knitter and or enable our wonderful crafting community!
If you teach or enable, use the hashtag:
#knit1teach1
knit: first stitch/first scarf

http://www.pantone.com/fashion-color-report-fall-2016#hero
Pantone 2016 Colors of the Year
Pantone Fall 2016 Fashion Color Report
Please use the hashtag:
#yarniacscolors2016

Episode 115 audio

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Friday, May 13, 2016

Episode 114 - Knitting All Around

Back to basics this week, with lots of knitting and lots of stalking! We want to thank you for supporting the podcast and for those of you who have ordered t-shirts, they have been mailed. We hope you love them as much as we do! An easy way to support the podcast is to click through our links on the right side below for Amazon and Craftsy. If you are making a purchase through either the Amazon or Craftsy websites and use our links we will receive a few pennies from your purchase at no additional cost to you. An easy way to help support us!

Craftsy Logo


What are we wearing?
Starshower by Hilary Smith Callis
Sharlene's Starshower
Solstice Cardigan by Cecily Glowick McDonald
Gayle's Solstice Cardigan

What are we stalking?
Kline Shawl by Jennifer Dassau
Marcel Wrap by Little Church Knits
Kaiya Mei by Jamie Hoffman
Reyna by Noora Laivola
Spindrift by Helen Stewart
Loop by Casapinka

What are we knitting?
Scrubbie pattern
Therapy by Laura Aylor
Sharlene's Therapy
Lilli Pilli by Ambah O'Brien
Western Sky Knits Aspen sock
Hoodie Shawl Cardigan by Susanne Sommer

What have we finished?
Heartfelt by Veera Valimaki
Sharlene's Heartfelt
Skyp-y socks
Seaman's Cap
Seaman's Church Institute Block Island Gansey Hat Kit

What are we swatching? 
Sharlene swatched North Light Fiber's Water Street
Gayle swatched North Light Fiber's Ocean Avenue
Listen for the discount code if you would like to purchase some of the North Light fibers yarn!

Please check out our post about Wendy Bernard's The Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary.
Wendy's Knit and Tonic blog

Episode 114 audio

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Monday, May 2, 2016

The Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary

At some point, every knitter experiences what I call a "light bulb" moment—that moment you realize all those fancy stitch patterns are just mixes of knits and purls. Though light bulbs aren't quite what they used to be—compact fluorescents and LEDs don't have the graphic punch of the yellow tungsten bulbs that lit my childhood—you can see the image. The moment you realize you can take your knits and purls and mix them up to create something new? Illuminating!

My first stitch dictionary was given to me by a non-knitter. It wasn't a big book, and it turned out to be riddled with errors, and missing important elements like a stitch key to one of the patterns. Despite those challenges, I would study page after page, photograph after photograph, marveling at the many variations of ribbing, the stitch combinations, and how cables and lace translated from chart to yarn. Little did I know, this was the start of the knit stalking that Gayle and I share with you on every episode of The Yarniacs. It was also the beginning of a healthy relationship with something we term "fantasy knitting." You know the drill. See the knitting. Imagine the yarns. Knit the item in your mind. VoilĂ , fantasy knitting!

A stitch dictionary, like an unwound hank of yarn, is full of promise. That lace pattern we spy would look fabulous at the bottom of a sweater. Or that new ribbing would work perfectly on the edge of a hat. The list goes on, because as every knitter knows, there is always another garment or accessory  begging to be made.


Wendy Bernard's second stitch dictionary The Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary will serve as fodder for your fantasy knitting and elevate your real life knitting as well. The 150 stitch patterns Wendy includes in this book have instructions to knit them top down, bottom up, back and forth and in the round. For knitters, this book gives us the opportunity to personalize our projects. In that voice we have come to love from her Knit and Tonic blog, Wendy makes it sound so easy to create something unique or to change up an old favorite. She even includes some new patterns in the book to try out the technique.

The Honeycomb Smocking stitch pattern shown here is just a little sample of the 150 stitch patterns in the book. If you are a fantasy knitter you might already have some ideas in mind!

This is the Honeycomb Smocking stitch graph for knitting flat.


Above is the Honeycomb Smocking stitch graph for knitting in the round.


Here is the Honeycomb Smocking stitch knit up in a swatch.


The mitts are one of the projects for swapping out stitch patterns and creating something all your own. :)


If you want to read more about The Knitting All Around Stitch Dictionary, read Wendy's post from her blog, and visit the rest of the blog tour listed here.

4/28 - Leethal
5/2 - Yarniacs
5/5 - Mason-Dixon Knitting
5/9 - Craft Sanity
5/11 - WEBS
5/16 - Knitcircus
5/ 18 - AboutKnitting.com
5/23 - Craftgossip